Its all about results...

First let me say that I am sorry I have been gone for so long.....we have had one whirlwind of a summer...school starts in 3weeks!!! Wow...I am so not ready! 

Now...results...

I don't know how many of you have been following my blog for very long, but in my new years resolution post I mentioned that I want to lose weight this year.   Thats a pretty common resolution and pretty common to not keep.  However I did start out trying. 

About 4 years ago I started counting calories religiously using spark people.   I lost about 40 lbs. And felt great.  I hit a plateau and at some point in the busyness of life stopped tracking calories.  I didn't gain it back right away...in fact I kept most of it off until about 1 1/2 yrs ago.  I gained back 20 lbs in 6 mos.  I was not proud and I attributed a lot of it to stress.  However I would start trying to lose again using my fitness pal (a similar but better) app.  This time was different.  The weight wouldn't go.  It was so frustrating.   I started beating my self up over it for not being consistent enough or cheating.  Both were true sometimes, but it didn't add up.

I figured I would try adding running or more exercise in general.  I felt great, but I started gaining weight...talk about frustration!  Summer came and it was so busy I just figured I would try to be good but wait til fall to start again. 

Well during this  summer I had some blood work done.  The results of the thyroid panel were off quite a bit.  After some more blood work we decided to start taking synthroid.  I had wondered if thyroid issues might in part be behind some of our infertility issues but it never occurred to me that it could be prohibiting me from losing weight. 

Fast forward 5 weeks and I am now down 7 lbs.!! Its not a lot but it is nice to finally see some results!  It is so much more encouraging to keep making healthy choices about food and exercise when you see results of your hard work!  So my update on the resolution...my goal was 60lbs this year...I am 7 lbs down...I don't know if I will make it but I am going to try!

I have about a million posts to update you with about my summer and I am going to try to get them all up this month so bear with me!

Austin

After a great time in Ft. Worth (including lunch today at my fav...Fuzzys) we left this afternoon and made it to Austin.  I am excited to spend the next two days preparing for and celebrating my sweet niece Haylie's birthday.  I can't believe how big they all are...Haylie is almost 4 (on Saturday)...Becca will be 2 in two months!... and look at how big this little peanut is getting...7 months old and growing like a weed...it seems like just yesterday was Thanksgiving and she was a little 5 pounder...just makes me so thankful that we live close enough to see eachother and let our kids grow up together! 

Coffee coffee

I know I said no posts til later in the week and here I am with a post...turns out I had a little down time this morning.  Speaking of this morning...if you know me then you probably don't talk to me much before I have had coffee...well when I am in ft worth either Donna or I usually goes to get coffee since she doesn't have a coffee maker (yes...I love her anyways!).  So this morning I woke up in time to go get it beforw my first client.   I ordered my grande americano black (because we don't do no wimpy coffee) and after I paid for it, the barista said the most blessed words known to man...or me..."we accidentally made two americanos...do you want the extra one free?"  Oh starbucks...I love you and your blessedly strong coffee and I love you for the 2 for 1 today!  The way to my heart is definitely coffee (take note!)!

Tour o Texas

I am currently on day 2 on our tour o Texas....jk...I am going all over though.  Me and the girls are spending yesterday until thursday morning in ft worth catching up with friends and of course I am doing hair.  The girls are doing their 3rd round of VBS at FBC Benbrook, our old church.  On Thursday we will head to Austin to help set up for my niece Haylie's birthday party on Saturday.  I can't believe she is almost 4!  I don't anticipate another blog post until Thursday or friday this week as I am so busy doing hair, so....so long for now!

Dancing with Cinderella

Today was the last day of ballet c amp and there was a visit from Cinderella...after she danced for them, they fot to dance with her.  I will post some pics and add more later but for now here is a video of Bria and Chey (and all the other girls) dancing with Cinderella!

Watch "Dancing with Cinderella-Ballet Abilene Camp 2013" on YouTube

Mommy daughter time

While Bria has been at ballet camp this week I have been spending time with Mk.  Yesterday my mom and I took her to paint pottery.  I love how she loves all things artistic! 

Today, Mike is out here with us and took the girls to chick fil a for lunch and then to go see the movie Epic.  I took advantage of the opportunity and went out to lunch with my mommy.  Soup and salad at Olive Garden...Yum!  Then we went and got pedicures.  It was nice to have some time just us and extra nice that we could relax while doing so!

Tomorrow is Bria's last day of ballet camp and she is supposed to dress up like a princess...she is of course going as cinderella...and also they will have a visit from Cinderella herself since the theme is Cinderella.  It should be fun.

Ballet camp and best friends!

This morning I the girls and I drove to Abilene for the week.  Bria is going to ballet camp at Ballet Abilene where we do ballet during the year.  Bria is so happy to be doing ballet again...she would do it year round if she could.  Bonus is that Cheyenne is spending the week in Abilene and going to camp with Bria.   They are SOOO excited!  Tonight Cheyenne is spending the night at my parents with us so the girls can have some extra time playing!  Should be a fun week!

Marykateland

So Mk sleeps on the bottom bunk in the girls room.  Today she decided to make a 'tent' by hanging blankerts from the top bunk to create panels and enclose her bed.   This evening I went into their room and saw a description of what happens in Marykateland...it is so cute!  I absolutely adore her creativity and imagination!  She is such a special little girl! 

Here is the pic of her bed and the pic of her sign from Marykateland.

Pay attention...

I always tell my kids that...and I try to follow my own advice...

However.....

Today we had our tball cookout for the end of the season.  It was a lot of fun.  During it Mk and one of her friends wanted to play with her bow and arrow.  So I let them. I was showing her friend how to shoot it and simultaneously paying attention to Mike and answering a question ...not a good idea....while I managed to shoot the arrow straight and not hit anyone, I also managed to get my arm in the way of the bow and when I released the arrow, the bow string pounded my arm and burst a blood vessel... I now have quite the whelp and I am sure it will be extremely colorful by tomorrow...  so. ..pay attention

This pic is from about an hour or so afterwards. 

National donut day

So apparently today is national donut day...which means free donuts....unless you live in the country where the closest donut shop is 30 miles away! 

So...as is watched my husband's countenance fall and my kuds realize there would be no donuts today...I suddenly thought...I can make donuts...and hey, its summer break, they can help, it will get them out from in front of the tv!  Double win!

So the girls helped me make donuts.  Mk is pretty good at measuring out and Bria did a great job beating the eggs!  They each cut out half of the donuts and I fried them up!  Oh and they are good...the girls agreed!  For the glaze I made three different types: vanilla bean chocolate milk glaze, strawberry orange glaze, and orange glaze.  Mk requested chocolate...Bria requested strawberry...and I made the orange for Mike bc he loves orange and I love him!    I also dusted the donut holes with cinnamon and sugar...I didnt want to mess witg glazing those little things...too messy!

The orange glazed donuts

Strawberry glazed

Vanilla Bean Chocolate Milk glazed (note the black specks from the vanilla bean...yum!)

Good thing I will be doing my ab challenge tonight...its day 7 and I haven't missed a day and I have been feeling stronger!  

FYI HERE is the basic donut recipe that I used and then I just came up with the glazes...the donut is an Alton Brown recipe...I love his recipes because they are usually simple and straight forward and they are always GOOD!

Farming time

Well, It is summer now, school is out, and since it is early June, it is also planting time around here.  The farmers have until I think June 21st to get the cotton in the ground.  This wouldn't seem to be a big deal, but we got some heavy rain a couple weeks ago that stopped all field work for a couple days.  And we had a big rain on Wednesday night that also has stopped farmers.  Don't get me wrong...we all LOVE the rain and we have been blessed to get quite a bit of it lately...however, when the field is wet and muddy and there are puddles, large puddles all over it, you can't plant.  So they wait and will probably be working a couple 75 hour weeks next week and the week after....that sounds so crazy to me to work that many hours in one week, but it is what they do and it works!    

Here is a picture of the hail that we got the other night with that wed night storm.  I think we got around 2 inches over the course of the evening.  When the hail started it sounded like a horse race on our roof...it was insane!!!  We opened the door and watched...it got pretty big!  I saw some bigger ones fall, but they were a bit farther from the house and I wasn't going to trapse through the mud and in the rain in the dark to find those pieces of hail.  There was no shortage of hail this size close enough to the house.  Also, the outside pane of one of our double pane windows (that was just installed last fall) at the church was broken by the hail...it was no joke!!

The other day as I walked out of the church, I saw Bria run over to this historical marker out in front of the church and start holding on like she was plowing a field...it is an old plow after all.  It was super cute!  Maybe she's a little farm girl at heart....she is our little Texas baby!

Funny funny funny

If you have kids and need a good laugh, watch this!!! Hilarious!  I almost did a spit take with my coffee!

Watch "Jim Gaffigan: Mr. Universe - 4 KIDS" on YouTube

No power ....no problem

The power went off at our house again today.  It went off around 11 and after about an hour we decided we didn't want to stick around a hot house (its projected to be 103*) and we sure didn't want to lose any more food with our fridge not having power.

Sooooo...we packed up the contents of our fridge and the kids and Emery and headed over to Mrs Sheila's house.   Not only does it have an extra fridge to keep our food cold but she also has an awesome pool!  We turned lemons into lemonade and had a fun pool day!

Here are some pics of the girls and a couple videos...mk wanted me to video her doing a cannonball and bria wanted me to video her "stirring the pool" ..enjoy! 

Ps...just got word from the power company that our power is back on! 

Challenge extended...

I am trying not to get discouraged bc I haven't been out for a run in almost two weeks...life was absolutely insane the last two weeks.  I don't want to make excuses...I am mad at myself for not going.   I didn't go when I had a chance and then when I was ready to go something would come up and Mike wasn't around to watch the girls.  It comes down to having a better plan and sticking to it...planning the night before when I am going to go for a run and then going.  That is my goal.  

On a completely separate note but slightly related, someone posted a link to a June 30 day ab challenge...so I decided to do it!!!  We are 3 days in and I have done it every night.  I hope I can keep up with it but either way, I am just going to try my best and push myself to do more than I think I can!  Mike is doing it with me and that is nice.  Its not too late...you can do it too!  Then we can cheer each other on! 

Storms

Last week we had a supercell storm come through and direct hit Rotan.  We had a very small tornado or two and about 4 inches of rain fall in about an hour.  It was intense!  Here are the girls while we hunkered down in the guest room as a shelter!  They were troopers and loved it...we made it fun and brought blankets and snacks and played farkle!

When the storm was over we looked out the door and this is what we saw...the parking lot was flooded, the barditches were full and the road in front of out house was flooded!  I have never seen that before!  

The next day we drove around some to see more of the damage and flooding.  This is where part of a road was washed out by where some of our friends live.  They still have the road closed because it tore up so much of the road that it is not safe to drive even though the water is not high anymore.

Here is the main road coming out of town...it was completely flooded still in parts, but the night before most of it was underwater!

This was a field...now it looks like Lake Rotan

This is one of our friends' barn.  They parked their farm trucks under them to protect them from the hail...not sure if this turned out to be any better

We lost power through all of this starting around 5pm on Thursday evening.  We didn't get power back until Friday night around 10pm.  It made me so grateful for the privilege of living in the USA.  So often I take for granted power, the ability to take a hot shower bc of hot water heaters, the ability to keep perishable food in a refrigerator, air conditioning.  There are so many places in the world where these are luxuries and yet I was miserable bc I was without for 30 hours.  It definitely put things into perspective.  

Needless to say, when these guys showed up on Friday night to start fixing our poles, we were very excited!

Bffs

Last week, Cheyenne spent the week with her Nana in Abilene.  We weren't able to go out there til Friday, but we met them at the Abilene zoo...our zoo pass allows us to take in up to 6 which was perfect!  As soon as they saw each other there were big hugs!!!  

They walked around holding hands most of the day!!

I had Baby Emery with me...this is how we roll!!!

And you can't forget Dakota!!! She was so enamored with Emery....

...and the waterbottle!!

These girls are so precious!  I love them and I love that we live close enough to Abilene to meet up and stay in contact!  They are bff's and I think they always will be as long as we are able to stay in touch!  That shouldn't be a problem because I kinda like hanging out with her mom too!

Recital

A couple of weeks ago we had our girls' recital.  We did ballet with Ballet Abilene and we have loved our experience there!  This was our first big recital experience!  The recital was at the Historic Paramount Theater in Abilene.  It is a gorgeous venue!  Dress rehersal was Friday night and we planned ahead to stay in Abilene that night with my parents since we figured it would be a late night. This was the first time I have done stage makeup for my girls.  It is a lot of makeup!!! But they looked gorgeous!

We had to get to the rehersal at 4 for Bria but she didn't practice until 645!!!  Her group was towards the end of the first half.  She fell asleep in my arms at one point for about 30-45 minutes!  It probably helped her get through it all!  When she woke up she had a cookie waiting for her that daddy had gone to get.  Doesn't get much better than that!

I got some pictures of Bria during dress rehersal, but not MK, my phone died and I grabbed the car charger instead of the wall charger....doesn't do me much good if I am not near or in the car!!

Here are the girls on performance night!  In my noviceness I didn't pack clothes that are easy to have tights on underneath and easy to change out of, so that afternoon we went to Kohl's and got them these cute and brightly colored sundresses!  I love them!

Here is Bria about 5-10 minutes before she went on stage!  Cutest.Lion.EVER!!!!

And here are some of her other lion friends...sweet girls!  Next year Bria will move up to the next age group class!  It will be fun for her as she lives for Ballet and will be able to get into more technique!

And here is my sweet doll, MK!  She still has not decided if she wants to do ballet again next year or if she wants to switch over to gymnastics!  Either way I know she will do great...when she sets her mind to something, she does it!!!

And here are some of her fellow dolls!

Overall we loved this year and are so excited for next year!  But before that we will have ballet camp for Bria with a special friend coming as well!!!  Cheyenne will be joining her for it!  

Snakes

Sunday afternoon I took the girls to Walmart to look for birthday presents for Mike.  We got home and Mike was still at the baccalaureate service for Roby High School.  While we were at Walmart we also got a hummingbird feeder.  We have ALOT of hummingbirds and the girls really wanted to get a feeder so that we could see them more up on the porch.  We got home and went into the house, wrapped Mike's present and filled the hummingbird feeder.  We went outside to hang it.  We decided where to hang it on the porch and MK went in to get me a stool since I am short.  As I was standing there waiting watching Bria play by the front flower bed, I looked over to the right and noticed a rattlesnake!!! This is the first rattlesnake live or dead that I have seen since we moved here outside of the roundup.  Bria was great...she was only about 4-5 ft away from the snake.  I immediately told her to get in the house bc there was a snake...she obeyed beautifully!  We went inside and I grabbed the gun...unfortunately when I grabbed the magazine to load it, it was empty.  I tried to overcome my shaking hand to load the ratshot into the magazine and went out on the porch.  I shot it and it didn't move much.  I am not sure what I was expecting.  So I shot it again.  In my franticness I only put two rounds in the magazine, so I went inside and put a few more in.  I didn't want to take chances that the snake was only wounded or that somehow I had missed.  I shot it again and 2 more times....never too many times for a snake I say!!!  Of course 5 minutes after I killed it Mike came home!! I made hime do the dirty work and cut off the rattles for me!

Here is a pic of the snake after 5 rounds of ratshot...it was dead!

Before Mike cut the rattles off, he let MK practice using her bb gun and she shot it a whole bunch and then he took the shotgun and shot it close range twice to make extra sure it was dead dead and done!

Here he is holding it up so we could see about how long it was...We figured out it was about 38 inches or so without the rattles...the rattles add another two inches...pretty bit snake...and old!

Bria was being brave and holding the trash bag for Mike while he disposed of it!

And here are my rattles...they say that each rattle is a year of its life since it sheds its skin each year and that forms the rattle.  This particular snake had 11 rattles...quite the old snake! 

On a side note, I am so thankful I saw the snake sitting there before Bria got any closer!  She likes to come up on the porch between the two garden beds and had she done that the snake likely would have bitten her. Also, I am thankful that the snake was pretty calm.  The sun had just dipped down behind the house enough to shade the garden beds and the snake was sleeping in the shade.  We hadn't disturbed it (until I shot it)...it was not defensive.  It was minding its own business.  God was looking out for us and protecting us I know!

32

I have a bunch of posts that I want to post but I have no internet and I need to post them from my computer.    So tonight I will leave you with an ode to my husband on his birthday!   Since he is 32 today here are 32 reasons I am thankful he is alive and mine!
32. He kills spiders
31. He takes out the trash
30. He has an awesome beard that he keeps bc I love it!
29. He has such a strong faith in God
28.  He is always encouraging
27. He Loves God with all his heart and soul and mind
26. He teaches our daughters to do the same
25. He sets a great example for our girks for how they should be treated
24. He always treats me wuth love and respect
23.  He gets that I am a little crazy and unpredictable and..
22. He loves me for it
21. He puts up with all of our girly stuff
20. Family is 2nd for him only behind God
19. He seeks Godly wisdom
18. He strives for righteousness
17. He likes to cuddle
16. He knows the importance of reading Gods Word daily and tries to do so
15. He is big and strong
14.  He puts up with and supports me with everything I overcommit to
13. He is willing to explain everything I ask about all the sports we watch and he does so with patience and love
12. He is silly...and silly with me and silly with the girls
11. He loves to have fun
10. He makes discipline and self control and integral part of his character
9. He strives to live above reproach
8. He takes his responsibilities to our family very seriously
7. He preaches the Word unashamed, allowing God to speak through him regularly
6. He is incredibly hot!!
5. He treats our girls and me like princesses
4. He is the perfect balance in character for me
3. He understands more about me than sometimes I do
2. He love, cares, and prays for the members of his church like they were family
1. He loves my cooking and I love to cook for him!

I could go on...but I guess I have to wait for him to get older!  I love you babe...Happy Birthday!

Goodbye dear friend :(

I am going to have to say good bye to one of my best friends soon....and before you get too emotionally involved, I should warn you...it is not a person! 

7 years ago I recieved my beautiful cuisunart 7 cup food processor for christmas from my sweet inlaws.  From that moment on we were inseparable, whipping up countless sauces, pastas, even all of Brianna's baby food!  We have been there through thick and thin...literally, pasta dough can get pretty thick!  

About a year ago I noticed the plastic on my blade beginning to crack and I thought...I may need to get a new blad at some point soon.  I hadnt thought much about it since.  Today I got out my friend to whip up some pasta dough for pasta rollatini.  I thought again about replacing the blade and went about mu business mixing.....UNTIL.....

....it wouldn't turn on!  I pressed the button on then pulse then off....unplugged...plugged back in...it went finally...then the next three times it wouldn't...then it worked one time ...then the next three times it didn't....

I am sad...and grieving this great loss ...I love to cook and my cuisinart is used several times a week (which is probably why it is about to die)!  So right now I am waiting for it to die...it could be tomorrow, it could be next week...only time will tell!  Now to convince hubs (and the budget) to let me get a new one...I have a feeling he will be easier to convince than the budget...he really likes pasta! 

R.I.P. my cuisinart...you've been a good friend!

Almond milk and almond flour

Almond milk is not my favorite.  Especially store bought almond milk.  However, I wanted to try making it and I love using almond flour in certain baking products.  This recipe makes almond milk homemade and then you use the rest of the pulp to make almond flour.  

Start with 3 cups of almonds.  I used these almonds bc its what I had...but literally, use what you have or what you prefer.  I don't mind using the skin, but if you prefer not to, then either peel them or buy peeled almonds or almond slivers, or whatever you prefer.  

Pour 6 Cups of boiling water over the almonds and let them sit for about 1 hour.  If they sit longer its not a problem...you could also use room temp water and let them sit for 6-8 hours, but why make the process longer than it has to be...Right!

I added about 1Tbs of Vanilla to the almonds and water to give it a slight vanilla flavor.  I really liked that addition, I think in the future, I might add a vanilla bean into it cut open.  You could also add some prunes to the almonds and the water to soak to add sweetness to it.  Whatever you prefer.  

After the almonds have soaked, take the almonds and water in batches and puree it in a blender.  If you use an actual vanilla bean, I would not puree it, take it out before you puree.  It should look something like this:

Once all the almonds and water have been pureed, place a double or triple layered cheese cloth over a bowl or pitcher and pour the thick mixture over the cheese cloth. You want to be careful that none of the pulp leaves the cheese cloth and all the liquid is squeezed out of the almond pulp.  I got impatient and started squeezing before I adequately secured the cheese cloth and I had to strain it twice!

This is the almond milk...easy peasy!  This recipe left me with about 36 oz of almond milk.  I put mine in a bottle and used it as needed.  I actually liked it a lot better than store bought almond milk.  It had a better flavor!  Just remember to shake the almond milk every time before you use it.  It has a tendancy to settle and separate as it sits in the fridge.  

So now what....well, all that pulp that you strained out, put it on a baking sheet or two and preheat the oven to the lowest it will go (about 200*) and let it dry out for about 2 hours or so.  When I do this again, I will use two pans.  One pan seemed to take forever to dry and I didn't quite dry it out completely which I could tell when I took it out, but I didn't figure it would matter much...and it doesn't, except that by not getting all the moisture out, I ended up with moldy almond flour after about a week.  So...very important to get ALL the moisture out.  

Once the almond pulp is dry, run it through a coffee grinder or food processor.  You are left with this!

It was delicious!  I made pizza crust out of it and flatbreads out of it...Great!